The first, hesitant drive-aways--after equally timid trial runs around dealers' blocks--were filmed by every domestic television network, the British Broadcasting Corp., NHK-TV Tokyo and a crew from Australia. With a satellite feed for any population overlooked. True to Los Angeles' company town status, actor and bay-saver Ed Begley Jr. and "Baywatch" star Alexandra Paul were among the first to put their autographs on GMAC leases.

As part of an $8-million promotional binge, billboards were raised, a World Wide Web site was launched, television commercials appeared during prime-time sitcoms and the EV1 showed up as a celebrity micro-limo at Thursday night's premiere of the movie "Daylight," starring Sylvester Stallone. The only thing missing from the opening day was Santa arriving by EV1.

And although it rained gently on GM's parade--the day was mercifully spared electrical storms--at the end of showroom business, 40 EV1s had been leased through 24 Saturn dealers in the two states. By the end of the year, a GM executive estimated, there would be 100 EV1s whistling along freeways or whirring contentedly at home recharging stations.

Most of the $34,000 vehicles that changed hands Thursday were sought by environmental evangelists, like Begley and Paul, putting money where their visions and preachings are. Paul, who ordered her EV1 in forest green, has owned two Volkswagens converted to electric power. She campaigns to save whales and does not wear leather. Fortunately for her, neither do the seats in the EV1.

"I didn't think about that," said Paul, who picked up her EV1 at Saturn of Airport Marina. "If it did come with leather, I'd just have to suck it up and plead ignorance."

At Saturn of the Valley in North Hills, Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude said he was obtaining an EV1 to reinforce the pollution-cleansing remedies he first suggested in 1988.

"I'll use it to drive the 19 miles from my home in Brentwood to City Hall," Braude said. He'll keep his Ford Taurus for longer hauls. "But I feel a little strange about this. Every car I've bought, I've paid cash. This is the first time I've leased."

At Saturn of Torrance, Mark Selogie, a Los Angeles electrical engineer, took delivery as a souvenir of his work in developing the car--and because his 13-year-old daughter had already driven the two-seater and he wanted it "to be her first car . . . also her generation's first car."

Nobody was surprised that Ed Hassellman of San Diego signed a three-year lease on an EV1. He designed solar panels for Skylab. Another went to Jordan Harris, president of Sony Music and something of an automotive switch-hitter, who said an EV1 might ease his guilt at driving a Ferrari, a Jaguar and assorted race cars.

Through car racing, believes Harris, there could be complete public acceptance of electric vehicles--even a revolution in battery technology to resolve their chronic deficiencies of short range and long recharging periods. After all, he said, most automotive safety systems and technologies, from disc brakes to rearview mirrors, began on racetracks.

"I would love to see a zero-emissions racing series that would certainly force the technologies," he added. "Then there would be no excuse for not driving zero-emission vehicles."

No matter the lessee, all were vividly aware of their minutes of fame and tiny places in history as operators of the world's first modern production electric vehicles--and a milestone introduced just days before the beloved, blasted, exciting, indispensable and fascinating automobile is poised to roll into its second century.

More important than Henry Ford's Model A? Absolutely. As important as the debut of the Duryea? Probably.

"I honestly believe that when they write the history of the second century of automobiles, this [EV1] will be the starting point, the seminal event," said Joe Kennedy, vice president of marketing for Saturn.

He was quite aware of scattered protests against the cost of the vehicle, the century-old technology of lead-acid batteries and abbreviated range. "But how long did it take personal computers to grow from cumbersome Apple 2Es to what we have today? Twenty years.

"Let us not forget that technology starts small and grows slowly before technology improves and costs go down."

Anita Mangels was not at Thursday's celebration. But she was granting interviews as executive director of Californians Against Hidden Taxes, which is funded by the oil industry and is firmly against electric vehicles.